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ARDEN — The bodies of two missing teens, both 19, were found in the French Broad River Tuesday night after a crash that apparently happened more than three weeks earlier.

Aida Bytyqi, of Asheville, and Swayne Forsythe, of Arden, were reported missing Dec. 29; she was reported missing to the Asheville Police Department and he was reported to the Buncombe County Sheriff's Office.

Both are now presumed to have died that day. The two were eastbound on Glenn Bridge Road when the 1999 silver Mercedes Benz E 320 they were traveling in, reported to be Bytyqi's vehicle, struck a tree and careened off the road into the water, said Lt. Randy Sorrells with the Buncombe County Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigations Division.

A report of the stranded car was called in about 6:30 Tuesday night after a group of kayakers spotted it, said Sgt. Craig Harris with the state Highway Patrol. The license plate then was connected with the missing persons investigation.

The stretch of road, though isolated and nearly pitch black at night, is not particularly curvy, though "the river is pretty much right there — about 8 feet away," Harris said.

"It is our belief the car went in the river at least three weeks ago," Harris said. "That was the last time there was any communication with them."

He said it did not appear the teens were texting immediately before the crash or that speed or alcohol may have been a factor; autopsies are pending to determine the cause of death, he said.

"It's just a tragic accident, a motor vehicle accident," Sorrells said. "It's just a terrible way to end."

Though the car had been towed from the river by about 10:30, scores of emergency vehicles still lined the stretch of road from its intersection with Brevard Road east toward the river. Skyland Fire Department and the Asheville Police Department responded to the scene, in addition to the Buncombe County Sheriff's Office and the N.C. Highway Patrol.